This week in data, we've got a $200M AI mega-round, a 70% drop in "highly forwarded messages," and a cry for help from the Belgian potato industry. Check it out below.

THIS WEEK IN DATA

+13%: Alphabet reported a 13% year-over-year rise in revenue for Q1’20. Despite the overall uptick in sales, CEO Sundar Pichai warned that ad revenue dropped significantly in March. We look at 10 industries that Alphabet is eyeing as it continues to diversify its business in this report.

-70%: Messaging service WhatsApp said that efforts it implemented in April to reduce the spread of disinformation related to Covid-19 resulted in a 70% decline in “highly forwarded messages.” We discuss the threats of disinformation, and emerging tech that could help combat it, in our Memes That Kill report.

-5,000 jobs: Uber is reportedly considering cutting around 20% of its workforce — representing over 5,000 jobs. The ride-hailing giant has been under pressure from a drop in users due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Learn about Uber’s business model in our report on how Uber makes — and loses — money.

6,000 people: A team from Oxford University said that it may have millions of doses of a Covid-19 vaccine ready by September. The researchers have been able to build on previous work studying coronavirus and malaria vaccines to jump ahead to large-scale tests of its vaccine candidate, with a 6,000-person study planned to begin in the coming weeks. The Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine is just one of around 120 proposed candidates, according to the WHO. Expert Intelligence clients can see some of the tech that could help clinical trials become faster and more effective here.

$200M: Cancer treatment startup Erasca closed a $200M mega-round. The Andreessen Horowitz-backed company has built an AI-powered platform with the aim of developing drugs to combat a range of cancer types. We look at how using AI to better understand protein structures could boost drug discovery in our 2020 AI Trends To Watch report.

$42M: Motiv, a startup offering an activity tracking ring, was acquired by digital building access company Proxy. Both startups are backed by prominent VC Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, with Proxy announcing a $42M funding deal in March. We identified Motiv as a potential acquisition target in this client-only analysis from last year.

90 days: Researchers at Hong Kong University have developed a surface coating that they say can provide protection against viruses for 90 days. The coating has been in development for a decade and was approved for sale in Hong Kong in February. It is touted as being suitable for a range of applications, including high-traffic public spaces and individual homes.

$967M: SpaceX and Blue Origin, startups founded by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos respectively, were among the 3 companies picked by NASA to move to the next stage of competing to build lunar landers to help take humans back to the moon. The US space agency will pay each company $967M over the next 10 months to further develop their designs.

2x per week: An organization representing the Belgian potato industry is calling on consumers in the country to eat fries twice a week over fears that 750,000 tons of potatoes — equivalent to more than double the mass of the Empire State Building — could go to waste. The potato industry in Belgium has been hit by plummeting demand from bars and restaurants amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Feeling like you forgot how to socially interact with humans? You’re not alone.

A Japanese aquarium found that its spotted garden eels have become shy, due to the lack of visitors. This makes it difficult for the workers to check on the health of the eels, which burrow into the sand whenever the workers pass by.

In response, the aquarium is launching a “face showing event” starting May 3, when people can video call the eels for 5 minutes at a time, so they “do not forget the existence of humans.”